METHOD FOR CONTROLLING RESOURCES IN NETWORK ELEMENTS OF A TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20090154402A1
• Filed: 07/13/2006
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile International AG (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile International AG (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Esseling, Ute, Koppenborg, Stefan, Lehser, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 8,218,441 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2483 involving identification of individual flows
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling resources in network elements of a communication network, in particular a data network such as the Internet or a mobile data network. The idea of the invention is the use of a data packet inspection for the QoS control in telecommunication networks. Based on information obtained from data packets, a (mobile radio) network resource corresponding to the content of each data packet is provided in the network elements. A dynamic allowance for services and customer classes or quality and resource control is a novel possibility by means of the above application of packet inspection.

Claims

1. A method for controlling resources in system elements (20, 21, 22, 24) of a telecommunication system in the transmission of data packets (30, 40, 50) or data flows between the telecommunication network (21, 22, 24) and a subscriber end unit (20), characterized in that in at least one system element (20, 21, 22, 24), each arriving data packet (30, 40, 50) is inspected and classified in accordance with its importance in a quality of service class, and the classification of the quality of service class in accordance with the importance is forwarded by signalling to other system elements involved in the transmission, and on the basis of this signalling, the system elements involved perform a dynamic resource control of the transmission.

2. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that rules for classifying a data packet or data flow in accordance with its importance are stored in memory in a set of rules (27) in the system element that is responsible for the inspection.

3. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that rules for converting the signalled importance of a data packet or of a data flow in the involved system elements are stored in memory in a collection of guidelines (28).

4. The method as defined by claim 2, characterized in that the set of rules (27, 28) can be administered by a network operator with respect to the inspection, signalling, and conversion.

5. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that the control of the resources takes place via the properties of a packet connection (PDP Context).

6. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that the control of the resources takes place via the identification of individual data packets within one packet connection.

7. The method as defined by claim 6, characterized in that the identification is defined by a classification that is performed in a system element and that is signalled to further network elements involved via an identification.

8. The method as defined by claim 6, characterized in that the identification is defined by a classification that takes place independently in individual system elements or in each system element involved.

9. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that the control of the resources takes place via the properties of a packet connection (PDP Context) and the identification of individual data packets within one packet connection, and a dynamic adaptation of relative priorities is effected via the data packet identification, and an additional adaptation of the logical connection is effected upon changes in absolute parameters.

10. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that in the inspection of the data packet, its quality of service class or QoS class is determined, and on the basis of the quality of service class ascertained, an adaptation of the logical connection between the RADIUS system and the subscriber end unit to the quality of service class is performed.

11. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that in the inspection of the data packet, its quality of service class or QoS class is determined;

that the header of the data packet is overwritten with the quality of service class ascertained; and

that in the system elements involved, the written-in quality of service class is evaluated and used for controlling the data packet.

12. The method as defined by claim 1, characterized in that in each system element involved the quality of service class or QoS class of the data packet is determined, and each system element uses the quality of service class ascertained for controlling the data packet in the forwarding to a different system element.

13. A telecommunication system with improved control of resources in system elements (20, 21, 22, 24) in the transmission of data packets (30, 40, 50) or data flows between the system elements (21, 22, 24) and a subscriber end unit (20), characterized by inspection means, present in at least one system element (20, 21, 22, 24), for inspecting each arriving data packet (30, 40, 50) and for classifying the data packet in accordance with its importance in a quality of service class, and means for signalling the classification of the data packet in accordance with the importance to other system elements and involved in the transmission, and means in the system elements involved for performing a dynamic resource control of the transmission, on the basis of this signalling.